Code: HIKARI
by Sminny-Wew
Summary: An experiment gone wrong has catapulted Lan and Megaman into an alternate dimension with technology primitive to their own. Can the brothers find a way back home while evading a violent computer virus? What does it even want with them?  Season 3-ish, post-BN6
1. New Frontier

**Code: HIKARI**

Chapter 1: New Frontier

* * *

Jeremie Belpois yawned. It was 9:47 PM, but instead of sleeping, he was at the supercomputer, actively double-checking on Lyoko. After XANA managed to steal the other Key to Lyoko that Aelita possessed, he was no longer linked to the supercomputer. And thus, twice as unpredictable. Jeremie felt like he needed to be absolutely 100% assured of XANA's activity before he could sleep soundly. Perhaps it was a hopeless effort, but he could never be too sure.

Just then, a blinking red exclamation point opened up on the screen.

"What the...who could be on Lyoko at this hour? And for that matter, how?"

Jeremie opened up the simulated map for Sector 5, which displayed a small triangle. Normally, these triangles represented his friends in their virtual forms. What confused Jeremie was that the triangle onscreen was _blue_. None of the group members had triangles that were blue. Not even Jeremie himself, when he had been virtualized onto Lyoko to increase his resistance to XANA. (Which was arguably the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to him.) He double-clicked on the triangle. The digital manila file that opened had a lowercase letter I, which meant that the file was new, and a lot of information within the file aside from lifepoints was listed as unknown.

Jeremie instantly dialed his friends' numbers. "Yumi, it's Jeremie. Can you call the others and meet me at the factory? It might be an emergency…"

* * *

What Lan Hikari experienced was, quite literally, breathtaking. He had felt his entire body painfully reconstructing itself into data, all while being propelled through what he guessed was the Internet at a rate of mere milliseconds. Before he knew it, he finally landed on hard ground. On his rear end, no less, which was quite painful. Then he felt a sudden, alien sensation: Lan's head turned to observe his surroundings, but he wasn't the one controlling it. He found his setting to be what looked like a blue room. Large dark-blue walls surrounded him like a huge dome, and there didn't appear to be an exit. He noticed he was standing on a glowing white circle, which made up the center of a much larger eye-like symbol that stretched across the entire floor.

"What is this place?" he asked. The voice startled him, because even though it was him talking, the voice was somewhat different. In fact, it sounded a lot like his Navi's.

"Megaman?" Lan asked, in his own real voice.

Lan's head whipped around, out of his control once again. "Lan?" the other voice asked. He saw nothing. _Strange_, the other voice echoed inside Lan's mind, _I could've sworn I heard Lan calling me._

_I __did__ call him!_ Lan thought.

"Lan?" asked the other voice. "Was that you? Where are you?"

_I'm standing right here!_ Lan's voice echoed inside his own mind. _Is that you, Megaman?_

"Yes, it's me," the other voice replied. "Where are you?"

"I'm right here!" Lan said in his normal voice.

"Where? I can't see you, and I have absolutely no idea how to find my way around this place."

"I'm in some kind of blue room, standing on a white symbol. Looks kinda like an eye."

"What? But that's where I...am..." Megaman did a double take once he caught his own reflection in the glossy floor. His appearance had changed slightly; his suit had light blue accents around his insignia and across his legs, a green and yellow marking on his helmet, more-pointed shoulder pads, and a green accent on each glove and boot.

"Lan...what happened to us?" asked Megaman.

The reflection's eyes became a familiar chocolate brown. "I don't know. I was inside that booth thing trying out Dad's experiment, you were with me in the PET, then things got out of control."

Brown eyes became green again. "Do you remember what went wrong?"

Neither had time to answer as they heard a noise approaching. Lan regained control of his body-was it even his?-and turned around to see what the noise was. Coming towards them was a strange creature with eight tentacles, a transparent plate over what Megaman assumed was its brain, and the same eye-like symbol as the one on the floor. Lan tried to back away, but he bumped into the wall and was soon wrapped up in six of the creature's eight tentacles. The creature placed its two unoccupied appendages on Lan's forehead.

Green-colored data began to seep from Lan's mind into the creature's tentacles. Lan felt sharp pains throughout his entire body, as though a part of him was being violently torn away.

_Lan..._

Megaman? What's happening?

It feels like I'm being ripped apart...everything hurts so much! It's getting dark…I can't even hear my own voice…

Try to hold on!

I can't…I'm getting weaker…

NO! I won't let this thing take you away!

"LASER ARROW!"

The creature holding the boys' body suddenly let go of them, letting them fall to the ground. Lan looked up to see the creature being hit with a barrage of exploding arrowheads and what looked like a fan. Weakened, the creature phased through the walls like a ghost and disappeared.

_"Odd? Yumi? Is everything alright over there?"_ asked another new voice, one that Lan couldn't find the source of.

"It is now, Einstein," said the first voice. "We found that new guy you were talking about." The boy who owned the voice, with the purple-splotched blonde hair, could only be described by Lan as a purple cat-boy.

"He was being attacked by the Scyphozoa," said a feminine voice, "But we took care of it." The short-haired Asian girl who stood beside the cat-boy looked like a geisha in her red and black costume.

_"Strange. I wonder what the Scyphozoa would want with him…"_

The purple cat-boy held out a hand to Lan. "Need any help?"

"Thanks," said Lan. He accepted the cat-boy's hand and got to his feet. _Are you okay, Megaman?_

I'm fine. A little shaken up, but I'll be alright. It felt weird, though, when that creature attacked us.

You were in pain. We both were. But hopefully, it's over now.

"So who are you?" the girl asked.

Unsure of how to explain the fact that he had somehow fused with his NetNavi, Lan chose the simple way out. "I'm Lan, Lan Hikari. Do you know where exactly I am?"

_"You're in an artificial, virtual world known as Lyoko,"_ said the invisible voice. _"More specifically, you're in one of the sectors that make up Lyoko: Carthage, also known as Sector 5."_

"And who're you guys?"

"I'm Odd," said the cat-boy, "And this is Yumi."

"You see, Jeremie?" said Yumi. "He's not some kind of new XANA monster."

"As far as we know, that is." said Odd. "I don't see the symbol on him. You don't have a sudden urge to destroy Lyoko or wipe out humanity, do you?"

"Uh...no," said Lan. "I didn't even know where I was until like five seconds ago."

_"How did you get to Lyoko, Lan?"_ the unknown voice asked.

"I was at SciLabs, where my dad works."

_"SciLabs?"_

"Yeah, you know: the company that created NetNavis?"

_"What's a NetNavi?"_

Lan was unsure how to respond. To him, knowing about NetNavis was common knowledge. "How can you not know? They're everywhere! They're in Sky City, Dentown ACDC Town, they're practically everywhere across Electopia!"

_"I'm sorry, but no such places exist."_

Lan dropped to his knees. _No...how can that be?! Unless…_

Lan, you don't suppose we might have crossed…_dimensions__…do you?_

Dimensions?! But that kind of stuff only happens in movies!

It's the only idea I can think of.

"Lan?" asked Yumi. "Do you feel okay?"

"…This might sound crazy to you, but…I think I'm from another dimension."

Odd raised an eyebrow. "Another dimension?"

Lan nodded. "I used to live in a place called ACDC Town before I moved to Cyber City. Where I'm from, we have artificially-intelligent beings called NetworkNavigators; NetNavis for short, or just Navis. They help run the Internet, which powers our technology. I even have a NetNavi of my own named Megaman."

_"I'm sorry, XANA, but I'm afraid that lie isn't going to work on me."_

"Jeremie, will you quit it?!" Yumi yelled.

"Isn't there some way to prove that I'm not lying?" asked Lan.

"Yeah, Einstein," said Odd, "He might not be with XANA, but maybe he has some memory problems. Can't Aelita help him out with that?"

_"Not that I know of. But if you guys insist on helping him, I'll bring up the transporter and perform a digital analysis. Please step into the center with Odd and Yumi, Lan."_

Lan did as instructed, standing between Odd and Yumi. He saw a circle with the eye symbol come down and enclose itself around the three of them. After that was a complete and total rush similar to Lan's earlier trip, but far less painful. The circle reappeared in a new region and vanished in a flash of light.

* * *

Lan's eyes widened. This place was entirely different. The surrounding area was a bright mix of yellows and oranges, almost like a desert, floating far above a digital sea. He also found two more people here. One was a brunette samurai leaning against a tower-like structure, and the other was a sitting pink-haired elf with an angelic air about her. Both were near the tower-like structure, which had a blue glow emanating from the top.

"Is this him?" asked the samurai, a hand placed on his sword handle.

"Yup." said Odd.

"He says his name is Lan Hikari," added Yumi, "And that he's from an alternate dimension."

"Einstein still thinks he's in cahoots with XANA, but we think he might just need a little refreshing," Odd tapped the side of his head with a clawed finger. "If you know what I mean."

_"I'll run a digital analysis on him to see if he's telling the truth, on one condition. One of you has to go into the tower with him, just in case my theory happens to be correct."_

"I'll do it," the samurai said. "If it makes you feel less paranoid, Jeremie." He stood up and headed down the narrow path to the tower. Lan followed close behind.

"Wait, there's no door. How do we get in?"

He was surprised to see the samurai walk through it similarly to the way that creature from earlier had moved through the walls. He followed suite, but ended up missing the platform and tripped. He would've fallen into the unknown black abyss, had the samurai not grabbed his hands.

"Thanks...um..."

"Ulrich." He pulled Lan onto the platform. Lan noticed that this one was smaller than the floor of Sector 5, but had the exact same glowing eye symbol.

_"Stand in the middlemost circle, Lan."_

Lan did as instructed.

_"Now just relax, close your eyes, and try to remember how you got to Lyoko."_

Lan could feel himself lifting about a foot into the air. A blue digital ring ran itself over him repeatedly. As Jeremie analyzed Lan's data and coding, several memories began flashing within Lan's mind. Memories of ACDC Town, his friends and family, school, net-battling, Megaman…but there was a recent one, one that had been stopped and slowed down at a regular pace. Jeremie must've been observing it for himself.

**_"Hey, Dad!" Lan called as he entered his father's laboratory at the SciLabs building. "I brought my friends with me like you asked. Can we see your new invention now?"_**

"Of course," said Professor Hikari.

"Your father says it's still a work-in-progress," said Mrs. Hikari, "But he thought you all might want to see it and let him know what you think."

"Well we're ready, Professor," said Lan's friend Maylu.

"Alright then." The man stepped over to an object that was covered by a white sheet. He pulled the sheet off to reveal his mysterious new invention. It looked like a telephone booth, but instead of a phone, there was a sleek built-in keyboard with a screen above it.

"What is it?" asked Dex.

"Be patient," said Yai, "He'll tell us!"

"This is the SciLabs InstaPort. This device was created to make long-distance travel easier. This prototype is designed to hold one person at a time and will transport them to the next nearest InstaPort, which is one floor above us."

"Can it transport people and Navis?" asked Lan.

"I'm not entirely sure about that, Lan," said the professor. "I would assume since Navis are a separate being there would be no harm, but—"

"Then why don't Megaman and I test it out?"

"Lan, are you sure about this?" Megaman warily asked from inside Lan's PET.

"I'm positive. Can I test it out, Dad? Please? I really want to!"

Professor Hikari sighed. "Fine. After going over the calculations twice and testing the InstaPort with inanimate objects, I suppose using a person would be alright."

"Yes!" Lan eagerly stepped into the booth and closed the door. "So how do I work this thing, Dad?"

As the professor explained the workings of the InstaPort, a thick smoke-like being slinked unnoticed along the wires of the machine. It seeped into the keyboard and briefly flashed an eye symbol on the screen.

"Okay, so I just type in Cyber City SciLabs…Floor 15…and I push this green button?" Professor Hikari nodded, signaling Lan to push said button. The machine began to whir and activate, when sparks suddenly began to fly in different directions.

"Lan?!" cried Haruka. "Yuchiro, turn it off!"

"I can't! Something's overriding the controls!"

Lan began to panic. Why was the machine malfunctioning? His father had told him that the machine had been tested numerous times! Just then, an eye-like symbol flashed on the screen above the keyboard.

"What the-?"

Suddenly, a thick gray smoke wrapped itself around Lan, squeezing the air out of him like water from a rag.

"Lan!" Megaman cried.

Lan began to grow faint. He couldn't even feel his legs. Then he realized why: his legs were dispersing, breaking up into what looked like tiny blue pixels of data. It wasn't long before half of his body, and Megaman, were gone. Lan managed to choke out one last scream before he had disappeared completely.

In the real world, Jeremie slumped in his seat, absolutely flabbergasted. Not because he was wrong about Lan being evil, but because he was shocked at what exactly had happened to bring him here. This kid had a life, family, and friends, and in a matter of seconds he was taken away from it by XANA. "Lan, I…I'm so sorry about what happened…and for not believing you."

_"Don't be. You had no idea I'd wind up here, and even if you did, I doubt you'd be able to stop it from happening."_

Ulrich could have sworn that, for a split second, Lan's eyes were green and his voice had changed. But when Ulrich blinked, they were brown again. He stood up and walked out of the tower, figuring he had imagined it. Lan followed close behind. When they emerged from the tower, the three others looked at them impatiently.

"Well?" asked Yumi.

_"He's telling the truth. His name __is__ Lan Hikari, he __does__ come from an alternate dimension, and he got here through a malfunction with a transportation experiment, courtesy of XANA."_

"So what do we do now?" asked Odd.

_"It doesn't look like XANA has anything planned at the moment, so I guess we're done. I'll materialize you back to the real world."_

"What about Lan?" asked Aelita.

_"I went over his file. He does have human coding, but…"_

"But what?" Ulrich asked.

_"Nothing. I'll just use Code: Earth on Lan, until it's safe to say otherwise. Materialization: Odd! Materialization: Yumi! Materialization: Ulrich! Materialization: Aelita!"_

One by one, Lan and Megaman's new acquaintances dispersed into data and vanished before their eyes.

_"Lan, head back into the tower. I'm going to try to bring you into the real world."_

Lan headed back to the tower, hoping that he and Megaman could finally get some help. He entered the tower carefully this time and stood in the middle of the platform.

_"Here we go. Code: Earth."_

Lan rose several feet above the platform, his arms spread out. Several blocks of data pulled themselves from the walls of the tower and enclosed themselves around Lan until he eventually vanished. The splitting sensation returned once again to his mind and body, but this time, he barely felt it…

* * *

The scanner finally opened, releasing pressurized air and the true, unconscious Lan Hikari. Ulrich and Odd propped the boy onto his feet and slung his arms over their shoulders.

"We got him, Jeremie," said Ulrich. "Everything is-"

Ulrich was interrupted by the sound of a second scanner whirring and opening up. The four Lyoko warriors turned to look and could not believe their eyes.

"Wait," said Odd, "There's two Lans?"


	2. Finding Your Feet

**Code: HIKARI**

**Chapter 2: Finding Your Feet**

* * *

"Wha…what happened?" Lan mumbled, stirring from his exhausted state. Experiencing the strange sensation of dispersing into nothing and resurfacing in reality had left him worn out. He eased himself from Odd and Ulrich's grasps to see what was in the other scanner. What he witnessed almost stopped his heart.

Inside the scanner, curled up in a fetal position, was a slumbering young boy with a strong resemblance to Lan. His hair was the same brown color, but his bangs swept past his eyes instead of being held back, and some of his hair spiked out in the back. He wore an open blue vest over a white short-sleeve shirt with a black square on each sleeve, orange armbands, black Capri pants with a light blue stripe going down the sides, and blue sneakers with white socks.

Lan stepped over to the scanner and knelt beside the boy. He carefully pulled the boy out of the scanner and laid him against the outside. That was when he noticed the symbol on the boy's armbands: it was the Hikari family insignia, the very same red and black "H" symbol Lan possessed on his bandana. Lan glanced at his PET, finding it to be completely empty, then looked back at the boy.

"No way," Lan breathed, his voice shaky. "It's him…it's actually him…"

"Who?" asked Aelita. "Do you know this person?"

The other boy began to wake up. As the boy's eyes opened and adjusted to the light, Lan noticed that they were a bright green, just like Megaman's.

"Augh, my head," the boy groaned, placing a hand on his forehead. His eyes then flew open, wide awake. He quickly pulled his hand back and stared at it, confused, as if expecting something else to be there. He examined himself curiously before directing his attention to Lan. "Lan, what's going on? How am I outside of the PET?"

Lan just smiled widely. "Welcome to the real world, Hub."

* * *

"Guys?" asked Jeremie. "Everything alright?"

Just then, the elevator door opened. Out came the Lyoko warriors, followed by Lan and another boy.

Jeremie raised an eyebrow. "You must be Lan, but…who is that next to you?"

"We're just as confused as you are, Jeremie," said Yumi.

"Remember when I told you guys about Navis and said that I had one?" asked Lan. The others nodded. Lan placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Well, everyone, I'd like you to meet the one and only Megaman!"

"But how did your Navi end up in the real world?" asked Jeremie. "I didn't detect anyone else on Lyoko. Unless…" He reopened and studied Lan's file. "…Lan, why does your Navi look so much like you?"

"Um…" _Megaman, can you hear me?_

No response.

_Hello? Megaman?_

Still no response.

Lan sighed. That meant he could only communicate with Megaman like that on Lyoko. He would have to either tell the truth or come up with an excuse. Neither option was favorable at the moment.

"Professor Hikari used Lan's DNA to make me," said Megaman. "I guess you could say we're almost like twins."

Lan sighed in relief. It was only a half-lie, but it worked. _Saved by the bell! Way to go, Mega!_

"That must be it!" said Jeremie. "The reason your data file looks like there's enough information and coding for two people: you and Megaman, due to your similarities, fuse together on Lyoko! That's incredible!"

"That explains why I could hear him in my head," said Lan.

A beeping noise went off. Ulrich took out his cell phone to check the time. "Wow, it's 10:30 already? I think we should head back to the school now."

"Good idea," said Odd. "Otherwise Jim'll mount our heads over a fireplace."

"But what about us?" Lan asked. "Where are Megaman and I supposed to stay?"

"I suppose you could stay on Lyoko," said Jeremie. "At least until I finish your personal documents."

"Personal documents?" Megaman echoed.

"Yes. Until I can find a way to send you two back to your home dimension, you're stuck here. I can forge some birth certificates and whatnot, get you transferred to Kadic, and that'll be your home away from home for the time being."

"Oh no, you're not pulling off any more all-nighters, Jeremie," said Yumi, grabbing the so-called tech wizard by the arm.

"But Yumi, this is important!" Jeremie protested. "Trust me, the paperwork would go a lot faster if Lan and Megaman helped me work on it! Besides, forging fake documents is nothing compared to creating Code Earth."

"Don't worry," said Megaman. "We'll make sure he doesn't stay up all night. After having to put up with Lan, I think it'll be quite easy."

"Hey!" Lan chuckled, lightly punching his twin in the arm.

"Alright," said Yumi. "We'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye," the twins said in unison, waving to their new acquaintances.

"Now then," said Jeremie, "For these documents, I just need basic information. We might have to change some things, such as your birthplace, but it's for the best while you two are here. Shall we begin?"

"Go ahead, Jeremie."

"Fire away."

* * *

The next day at Kadic Academy, in the classroom of one Mrs. Hertz, Ulrich Stern and Odd Della Robbia were waiting in their seats for a certain genius to arrive.

"One minute to the bell," said Ulrich. "You don't think Jeremie stayed up crazy late again, do you?"

Odd shrugged. "Beats me. I wonder how our two guests are doing."

"Odd…" said Ulrich, "I have a weird feeling about those two."

"Good-weird or bad-weird?"

"It's somewhere in the middle. I don't think these guys are evil or working with XANA, but there's something about the one guy…Megaman, I think was his name…something that doesn't feel right."

"Aww, is someone afraid the new guy will try to steal away their beloved Yumi?"

"Very funny, Odd. My bad feeling doesn't even involve that. I feel like he's—"

The bell rang as students took to their seats. As the teacher entered, so did Jeremie with only one of the twins.

"Good morning, class," said Ms. Hertz. "I see you brought our new student with you, Jeremie. I've heard nothing but good things about him…and, likewise, the opposite of his brother."

Megaman stifled a quiet giggle.

"Anyway, class, this is our new student, Hub Hikari. He and his twin brother Lan were recently transferred to Kadic from…from…I'm sorry, Hub, where was it you said you were from?"

"New York City, in America. We went to Northridge Middle School."

"Ah, yes! Now I remember. Mr. Hikari, despite his age, has such remarkable grades that the school board has allowed him to attend our class. I expect great things from you, Mr. Hikari. Now please take a seat beside Miss Delmas over there."

Odd and Ulrich cringed. The last thing they wanted was for their new friend to become corrupted. They prayed that Sissi would just leave the boy alone and vice versa.

They were half wrong.

As he sat down, Megaman extended a hand to Sissi. "You must be the principal's daughter. I'm Hub."

"Look, I don't know who you think you are, new kid, but I'm not—" Sissi froze as she locked eyes with the new kid. There was something about him that really grabbed her attention. The something was nowhere near the brilliant attractiveness of Ulrich, but…this new kid's green eyes seemed to sparkle like bright stars. And his smile was warm and innocent, welcoming even.

"…Miss?" asked a confused Megaman.

"Huh? I-I'm fine." Sissi looked away, her face turning a light shade of pink. "Stop staring at me like that."

Megaman pulled his hand back and looked down at his desk, quite confused over what just happened. _I wonder what Lan is doing right now…_

* * *

"Hikari!" barked the P.E. teacher. "Heads up!"

Too little too late did Lan hear the call of Mr. Morales' voice when he was struck in the chest by a flying soccer ball. The voices of laughing students were all he heard in his stumbling daze.

"You okay, Hikari?" asked the teacher.

"Sort of," Lan replied. "Can I please go to the infirmary?"

"Of course. Don't take too long, now. I've had much higher positions of authority in my lifetime, so believe me, the consequences will not be pretty if you think you can get out of the entire class period."

"I'd rather not hear about it, Jim," mumbled Lan as he stepped out of the gymnasium. He started walking down to the infirmary and decided to pass the time it took to get there by thinking.

Normally, Lan only zoned out when it came to actual schoolwork. In Gym, he would at least participate. But this time, he seemed to completely disregard everything. He was zoning out in the middle of playing soccer, his best sport, of all things! Why? In his mind, Lan tallied up the reasons: he had been abruptly taken away from the people and world he knew, had almost lost his brother, and was nearly killed by that Skiph thing, all over the course of a single day. And until a way home was found, he and Megaman would have to pose as 'Lan and Hub Hikari, the twin American exchange students from New York' in a strange world with lower tech than he was used to.

Or perhaps Lan merely had a special, dimension-hopping kind of jetlag and was simply too tired to think clearly.

He dragged his finger along the tiles of the walls and smiled. At least he had Megaman to keep him company. And not just through the PET or a copybot; he was really here, in the flesh, in the real world. He could actually breathe, eat, sleep, and feel like any other person. When they ate breakfast with the Lyoko warriors earlier that day, the starry look in Megaman's eyes was just so amusing to Lan and reminded him of a little kid. It was what Lan had dreamed of ever since he was told the truth about Megaman's origins, and now it was finally a reality.

He opened the slightly creaky door of the infirmary.

"Can I help you?" asked the nurse.

"Yeah, I had a little head-on collision in Gym," Lan replied. "But with my stomach, heh. Can I lie down for a few minutes?"

"Sure. Just sign in and I'll send you back before the period ends."

Lan signed his name and the current time on a sheet of paper. He laid himself on one of the beds and relaxed as he imagined the joys of finally being able to live with his twin. Maybe their situation was not as bad as he originally made it out to be.

As he napped, thick black smoke crept into the room from a vent and seeped itself into Lan's PET. The screen began to rapidly flash an eye-like symbol and raining bits of data. After half a minute, the smoke slithered back out and disappeared into the vent from whence in came.

* * *

Later, the bell for lunch rang, signaling students to leave their classes and eat their fill.

Megaman could not help but stare at Odd, who downed what must have been at least his fourth croissant. Megaman was not an expert on human behavior, but he was pretty sure no human could eat that many croissants and still have room for more. Then he glanced over at Lan, who was chugging down just as many croissants, and decided to forgo the thought by focusing on his own meal.

"Wow, Odd," said Ulrich, "Looks like someone's about to beat your record."

"Oh yeah?" said Odd, reaching for yet another croissant. "I'd like to see him try!"

"Bring it on, cat-boy!" Lan retorted.

"You guys are such pigs," said Yumi, shaking her head. "So Hub—um, can I call you Hub? Or do you prefer Megaman?"

"Jeremie said that he wants to keep my identity hidden while in the real world," said Megaman, sweeping his macaroni around with his fork. "But you can call me Megaman in private or on Lyoko. Mega for short."

"Okay," said Yumi, lowering her voice a bit. "Mega, what do you think of the real world so far?"

"It's very different from being a Navi, that's for sure. It's nice to actually see people's faces when I talk to them."

"And you said there are other Navis like you?" asked Aelita.

"Oh yes, they're everywhere, and they come in all shapes and sizes. My friends Roll and Glide are Navis. Then there's Gutsman and Protoman, but I wouldn't exactly call them friends…"

"Did someone say friends?" asked a vaguely smug voice. A girl with long black hair clad in pink strode up to the group's table, followed by two boys who seemed to be nothing more than mindless followers.

"Oh great," groaned Odd, who paused to swallow. "It's the Wicked Witch of Kadic."

"Who?" asked Lan. He did not know this girl, but her presence told him that she was nothing but trouble. In short, he did not like her, especially the way she was looking at Megaman.

"Silly Odd, is that any way to talk to your old friend Sissi?"

"Old friend? That's new," said Ulrich. "Usually you call me your sweetheart or something."

"Oh, details, details," the pink-clad diva replied. She leaned on the table and glanced suggestively at Megaman. "So where's your little pal Jeremie? And who're your new friends?"

"Einstein is in his room," said Odd. "He's working on…a science report! Yeah, a science report…on…the laws of gravity!"

Sissi raised an eyebrow in suspicion. Odd knew it was not the best excuse, but stating the obvious—that Jeremie was doing Lyoko-related work—was out of the question.

"This is Lan and Hub," said Aelita. "They're the new transfer students from America."

"Really?" asked Sissi, gazing full-on into Megaman's eyes. "So tell me, Hub, what's America like?"

The gulp Megaman made as he swallowed his juice could not have been any louder. He exchanged a brief worried glance with Lan. Megaman suppressed a cough and cleared his throat. "It's, um…very different from France. Very different indeed. It may take me and Lan a while to adjust to our new situation."

"Fascinating. Hey Hub, how would you like a tour of the school? Just you and me?"

"Hub? Alone with you?" asked Lan. "I think he'd rather get attacked by a virus—I mean…I think he'd rather get a virus than listen to you blabber on about makeup and hairstyles!"

Sissi's jaw almost hit the floor. It was only this kid's first day at Kadic, and he was already brainwashed by Ulrich's little clique to hate her? Worse yet: what if they got to Hub too? She would not have it.

"I'm sorry, Sissi," said Megaman, "But I'd really like to finish my lunch. Maybe later?"

Sissi grabbed Megaman's arm, startling the boy, and pulled him up from his seat. "I don't care what anyone says, he's going with me now!"

"Hey, let my brother go!" Lan yelled.

"He said he didn't want to, Sissi!" Yumi added.

"Stay out of this, Yumi! I'm not letting you steal this one away from me!"

Before anyone could say another word, there was the loud sound of an explosion. All heads in the room turned to the end of the cafeteria, where a hole had been blown through the wall. Standing in the exact same spot as the wall was what appeared to be a humanoid robot.

What caught Lan and Megaman's attention was the robot's arm cannon and overall familiar Navi-like design. What caught the Lyoko warriors' attention was the XANA symbol on the robot's suit.

* * *

**Hey there, readers, long time no see. ^^; For those of you wondering where I disappeared to or what would happen to this story, let me explain. I took a break from writing fan fiction so that I could focus on my original ideas, which really needed my attention and are still in development. But after getting into Homestuck, hearing news about Code: LYOKO getting a 5th season, and having a sudden re-interest in the MMBN series, I came back to this story, fixed up chapter 1, and got to work on chapters 2 and 3. I have the basic plot for Code: HIKARI laid out, but it's still in development. Also, don't expect me to follow a strict update schedule OR ask me when the story will be updated. (The latter bothers me quite a lot.) When I have the time and inspiration, I will get back to work. But don't worry; chapter 3 is halfway done as we speak. I'm also working on a cover for the story, which will hopefully be done by the time chapter 3 is!  
**

**Please leave a review and/or constructive criticism. Thank you. :3**


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